I became a Christian 2 years ago. At first I thought it meant I had to stay away from my old friends, but a year later my pastor, Mark, encouraged me to invite them on an Alpha Course we were about to start. I was hesitant. My friends are not just non-church people, they are into drugs and would have thought it very weird if I invited them to church. But Mark encouraged me to host an Alpha table and invite all of my friends to be part of my group. So I invited them just to the introductory banquet and I was watching their faces the whole time to see how they were responding.
When the speaker started giving the talk, some of them looked a bit uncomfortable and I wondered if that meant that they wouldn’t come back the next week. But they did! And they kept coming back. For the Holy Spirit Day I didn’t know how to describe it to my friends without making it sound weird so I just said “come for a braai”. We black people like our braais! After the braai there was a talk and an opportunity to be prayed for. I asked my friend next to me if he wanted to invite Christ into his life. He said yes. Three of my other friends committed their lives to Christ that same day. They then had an impact on more of our friends, and in a matter of weeks eleven of my friends had become Christians and left their drugs behind them!!
Phumlani Njilo, Pietermaritzburg
